


Her Dark Affection

by Lady_Therion



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:15:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Therion/pseuds/Lady_Therion
Summary: In which Nesta indulges her mate behind closed doors.





	Her Dark Affection

Nesta was not free with her affection.

At least, not publicly. Even then, it was rare.

Cassian could count the number of kisses she had given him in front his family, even after they were mated. The first time she did so was at the townhouse. He couldn’t remember what the occasion was, but he could recall with perfect clarity how Nesta had wandered into the dining room at the tail-end of breakfast.

She was fully dressed, but half-groggy (his fault, for keeping her awake most of the night). Without thinking, she had leaned down to kiss his cheek. Her soft lips pecking his rough stubble. He had been so taken aback that he turned his head to claim her mouth—with plenty of tongue and fervor to spare. She stilled, but allowed him to linger before batting him away.

“You taste like eggs,” she complained, before taking a seat next to him. His brothers blinked and her sisters gaped. Mor smirked as Amren snorted. “What are you gawking at?” Nesta had snarled.

Eventually, they resumed their usual banter. But everyone recognized that moment for what it was.

It had taken a long time for Cassian to realize that Nesta was not frigid. Just...shackled.

As a child, the virtues of reserve and restraint had been gauged into her as deeply as the scars on his skin. They were also the only tools she had been given to ensure her survival. Because in her old world, the survival of a woman largely depended on whether she could secure a husband.

Husbands that expected their wives to be docile and obedient. The things his fierce mate could never be. Her heart was Illyrian: proud and strong and untamable. All her life, she had felt too much and felt too deeply. Her mother fretted over it, stifled it, walled it away. Intentionally or not, her mother had caged her in and clipped her wings. It twisted something inside her, turning Nesta’s wild passions into rage. A cold rage that became an icy prison of her own making.

“I wasn’t always like this,” she told him once. “There was a time when I used to be brave...like you.”

Her confession nearly broke his heart.

But Cassian couldn’t take any of the credit for setting her free. Nesta did that by herself, exceeding all his expectations. It was her own fire that burned away her limits. A fire that so few ever got to see. It humbled him and held him in thrall. He never tired of its heat.

Because within the walls of their home, Nesta was loving and indulgent. She _spoiled_ him with her affection; made him crave it at every turn. And because his mate burned so brightly, she always had more to give. Always. So it didn’t matter to him that she wasn’t as sweet as Elain or as open as Feyre. Nesta was Nesta. He would have her, iron claws and all.

Besides, it made things much more interesting.

And when it came to their bed, he enjoyed being at her mercy.

Like now, when she sat with her legs astride him, her hips rolling against his as she left a trail of bruising kisses down the column of his throat. She liked to mark him there and he liked to let her. Her bites were soft and hard, making him rumble with pleasure as he slid a calloused hand up her back.

“Mmm...someone’s very eager for me tonight,” he teased.

She leaned up to slant her mouth over his, her wicked tongue setting him on fire. The kiss was rough and breathless. The kind of kiss that simultaneously said ‘ _You’re mine_ ’ and ‘ _Shut the hell up._ ’ He could feel himself rise, his cock twitching with interest against her thigh.

“I’ll eat you alive,” she whispered, dragging his bottom lip with her teeth. “And leave nothing but the bones.”

“So romantic,” he said, then hissed when she began the most sinful assault on his ear.

His eyes shuttered as he breathed in her scent, hands fisting her long golden-brown hair. He loved it when she wore it down; loved to twist it around his fingers and hold her steady as he took her in the most carnal ways. Or better yet, when she took _him_.

“I saw you in the sparring ring today,” she said. “You were showing off.”

“That’s because I knew you were there,” he said, somewhat distractedly as he began pulling off her nightgown. “And I know much you love staring at my ass.”

“That’s because I own it.”

He growled in approval. “Can’t argue with that.”

It was getting harder and harder to think now that they were both naked and panting and fully aroused. There was an edge of darkness in Nesta’s eyes, a darkness that said ‘ _I want to possess you._ ’ She wanted him coming and writhing beneath her. She wanted to give before she could take. Most of all, she wanted him to remember who he belonged to. As if he could ever forget. The thought of submitting thrilled him; his rigid cock standing at full attention.

“Stay still,” she said, when he began bucking underneath her. “Or I’ll have to punish you.”

He gave her his best shit-eating grin.

She blinked. “What are you...? No! You brute, I told you—”

But it was too late. He grabbed her hips and hauled her forward, his fingers digging into her backside as she squirmed. As much as she threatened and cursed, she didn’t stop him from placing that gorgeous, glistening quim directly above his face.

“Don’t you dare…”

He did, groaning as he licked her. Insolently, so. His tongue sliding, long and slow, over that lovely pink seam. He did it again and again, relishing his small rebellion when she fisted his hair, her grip almost painful. He drew back, adding a finger as he continued his siege by fastening his mouth to that sweet and swollen pearl between her legs. He loved it; tasting her there, savoring her slick desire for him.

It wasn’t long before her protests became a litany of frustrated cries and furious incoherence. Above him, she was sweaty and quivering as he murmured filthy nonsense against her skin. She was close. So very close. And although he knew he would pay for it later, he didn’t stop his vulgar attack until she unraveled, crying out as she tumbled over the edge in a rapturous frenzy.

“Oops,” he said, kissing her mound. “Made you come first. Guess you’ll have to punish me.”

He felt her magic coil inside her before it sprung on him, pinning both his arms into the mattress.

“I have half a mind to leave you like this,” said Nesta, her voice dangerously quiet. “Aching and unsatisfied.”

He wondered if she would. Just to teach him a lesson.

But all doubts drained from him like water in a sieve when she eased herself over his cock, sinking down on him inch by inch until he filled her to the brim. She looked wild and wanton. Furious and freshly fucked. She rode him, fast and hard. Her pace was relentless and unyielding, like she wanted to prove a point. What he wouldn’t give to skim her ribs, or cup those full breasts. But given his current situation, he couldn’t touch her at all. His fingers clenched as he grunted, a burning need to caress her skin coursing through him.

“Nesta...can I just…?”

“No,” she said. Then rode him faster.

Mother above, he was almost there. Blinded by a maelstrom of pleasure. Gasping, stiffening, arching. All too soon, he was standing at the precipice, bracing for the freefall...

And then she _stopped_ , removing herself entirely.

“No!” he cried out. “No, don’t. Don’t. I was...”

“Mmm,” she said, kissing his scarred brow. “Didn’t someone just beg to be punished? I think someone doesn’t actually know what they want.”

“Gods-damnit, Nesta,” he said, yanking at his invisible restraints. “Quit screwing around.”

He could just imagine the way he looked. All red-faced and needy. She had him right where she wanted him. Aching and unsatisfied, indeed.

“Please,” he said, forcing out the word.

“Please, what?” She asked innocently, tracing one of his nipples.

He growled. “Please...get on my cock and give me an earth-shattering orgasm.”

“Why should I?”

 _Why?_ Because he needed to _come_. To feel her wet heat around him. Squeezing him. Clenching him. Wringing him dry.

“Nesta, I’m serious—”

She cut him off with a searing kiss. “You look so pretty when I rile you up. Imagine what the others would say...if they knew what I do to you. If they knew how much I loved you and fucked you, until you’re spoiled rotten with it.” She bit down on his shoulder, making him see stars. “Even now it’s hard for me not to give in. I want you inside me so badly.”

“ _Nesta_ …”

“Will you make it good for me? If I give in?”

“Yes,” he rasped.

“Yes what?”

“I’ll make it good,” he said, through gritted teeth. “I’ll make it so good that you won’t be able _to_ _walk_ tomorrow.”

“Do you promise?”

“Fuck yes.”

The restraints lifted, unleashing him.

He tackled her into the bed, rolling her beneath him as he stroked and caressed everything he could reach. His touch was clumsy and hurried, fingers shaking from being denied. He dove between her spread thighs, moaning in relief as he sheathed himself to the hilt, canting his hips while he chased his own single-minded pleasure. Nesta gave as much as she got, scratching and clawing at him as they sought more friction, more fire.

He could feel himself cresting, balls tightening as his mind replayed her sweet and vicious words.

Im _agine what the others would say...if they knew what I do to you?_

What would the others say if they saw her like this? If they saw _them_ like this? No tenderness at all. Just lust and love so endless and desperate that, if unchecked, it could consume them both. He was so lost in her, it terrified him sometimes. And yet he couldn’t imagine any other person to whom he could relinquish control.

“What are you waiting for, Commander?” She asked, her breath ragged. “Come inside me.”

 _Shit_ , he thought. Or roared. He wasn’t sure. It was as if she had tripped some primal wire in his brain and suddenly he couldn’t hold himself back. He broke, spending himself inside her as the fever of his arousal reached its peak, surrounding him in a fog of raw bliss.

She held him through it, kissing and soothing him even as his thrusts grew shallow and erratic. The aftermath was quiet, sleepy, boneless. Cassian wouldn’t mind one bit if he lied like this forever, still halfway buried inside his mate as she embraced him.

“There’s still time,” she said, eventually.

He cracked open an eye. “Time for what?”

She gave him a smile that would have made a death god sigh in adoration. “For you to keep your promise. As adequate as all that was….I can still walk, you know.”

“Adequate?” he said, his temper heating.

“Yes, adequate.”

“I see...,” he said, lacing his fingers with hers. “My _apologies_.”

“Don’t worry, my love,” she quipped. “You have all night to make it up to me.”


End file.
